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Syria airstrikes raise fears of bloodbath in Idlib province

By Ben HubbardThe New York Times

Tues., Sept. 4, 2018

LONDON—Syrian and Russian warplanes carried out dozens of airstrikes on Syria’s last rebel-held province Tuesday, apparently ignoring a warning from U.S. President Donald Trump and raising concerns that a large offensive against the densely populated area had begun.

The strikes on Idlib province, in northwestern Syria along the border with Turkey, came as diplomats scrambled to avert what a U.N. official said could be a bloodbath.

Smoke rises after a TNT bomb was thrown from a helicopter, hitting a rebel position during heavy fighting between troops loyal to president Bashar Assad and opposition fighters, in a neighbouring village to Kafr Nabuda, in the Idlib province countryside, Syria. The strikes on Idlib this week came as diplomats scrambled to avert what a U.N. official said could be a bloodbath. (The Associated Press)

Syria’s president, Bashar Assad, has vowed to fight until he regains control of the entire country, and his Russian and Iranian allies have been hinting that the battle for Idlib was imminent. The province has an array of rebel forces including jihadis associated with Al Qaeda, which Syria and its allies say they must get rid of.

U.S. officials have warned Russia and Iran against military operations in Idlib.

“The Russians and Iranians would be making a grave humanitarian mistake to take part in this potential human tragedy,” Trump wrote on Twitter on Monday. “Hundreds of thousands of people could be killed.”

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Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters Tuesday that “we can expect a humanitarian catastrophe” if military operations begin in Idlib.

And the White House threatened unspecified military intervention Tuesday if Assad’s forces used chemical weapons.

“Let us be clear,” a White House statement said. “It remains our firm stance that if President Bashar al-Assad chooses to again use chemical weapons, the United States and its allies will respond swiftly and appropriately.”

The fight for Idlib may be the last major battle between the Syrian government and the rebels that rose up against it in 2011 but is not likely to end the conflict. Even if the government retakes Idlib, about a quarter of the country would remain outside its control.

Syria’s allies pushed back on the U.S. warnings Tuesday, with Iran saying that any military operation would be planned to avoid human suffering and Russia accusing the United States of lacking a “comprehensive approach” to ending the conflict.

Dimitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesperson, called Idlib “a hornets’ nest of terrorists” in comments to reporters, adding that the U.S. warnings did not take into account the “dangerous, negative potential” of the situation.

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